The Bandeja summer 2024 issue

news
news
Women &
children first
the LTA’s strategy to 2027
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), padel’s
governing body in Britain, has a new strategy to take the game
through to the end of 2026. The Bandeja spoke to Tom Murray,
LTA Head of Padel, to find out more.
Tom Murray
The turn of 2024 marked a pivotal
moment for padel in Britain - the
number of courts hit 350, the
magic number that Tom Murray needed
to press ahead with phase two of
developing the game.
“It is exciting because we have finally
got the sport to the place where we
can justify greater investment and
be specific about our strategy,” said
Tom. “You could argue there is still not
enough infrastructure (courts) and there
isn’t, we are playing catch up with the
rest of Europe, but there needs to be
enough places to play so that marketing
actions don’t fall on deaf ears.”
It’s widely accepted that court numbers
have now broken through the 400 mark
and are heading towards 500 thanks to
a flurry of new openings in the last few
months, with many more planned for the
rest of the year. These growing numbers
feed into the LTA’s Padel Strategy 2024-
2026, which forecasts 500 courts by the
end of 2024, 700 by the end of next year
and 1,000 by the end of 2026.
This exponential growth is being
delivered, in the main, by the private
sector. Since 2020 the LTA has provided
35 tennis clubs with £3.9 million of
‘Quick Access Loans’ funding for 67
padel courts. In the same timescale
the association’s total investment into
padel has been around £5 million.
(Note: Quick Access Loans have to be
re-paid within 10 years).
Player numbers are also on the rise.
A recent LTA survey of venues put
participation at between 139,000 and
151,000, up from the association’s
previously quoted figure of 89,000.
“The next three years we are going to
see padel really grow and that is when
we are going to start to see changes,”
said Tom. “It is a huge opportunity for
everyone in the UK. Padel is growing,
it’s great for the LTA, it’s great for the
private sector and we are just there
to facilitate that.
“It (padel) is in a really good place and
these next three years we will be able
to show what the LTA is there for and
what we can do with the sport,” added
Tom, who denied critics’ claims that the
organisation wishes to control padel to
protect tennis. “It’s not let’s control padel,
it is just about helping grow the sport in
the right way,” he said.
Strategy
A key LTA focus is growing the sport in
the right way, particularly in encouraging
more women and children on to court.
This will be delivered via the LTA’s
updated padel strategy, which is split
into six key actions:
Invest in the visibility of padel and
its infrastructure to increase padel
awareness, for example through
content creation, strategic marketing
and commercial partnerships.
Diversify event space/focus on
commercial partnerships and ensure
padel is safe, inclusive and sustainable.
In practice this includes a medium/long
term major event strategy that supports
British players and drives visibility.
Grow the player base by making
programmes and the competition
landscape more accessible. The LTA
will developing competitions to improve
accessibility and increase participation
with a focus on local, county and
regional level.
Perform: build a pathway that supports
and future current players, for example
through youth activation sessions/
player identification opportunities.
Support the padel workforce, for
example through an education and
qualification pathway.
Lead padel in Britain to the highest
standards to ensure it is safe, inclusive
and sustainable.
County network
Tom explained that they are looking
to the LTA’s network of regional and
county teams to support national
efforts. “Counties can play a huge role
in this, as they do with tennis, from
county competitions to grassroots
programmes,” he said. With all counties
now having LTA padel ambassadors, all
but a few having courts and LTA funding
in place to support them, there’s a
real opportunity to supercharge padel
activations at grassroots level
So what is he most excited about?
“Growing padel participation. That
might sound pretty plain but for me
that is huge,” he said. “The issue was
infrastructure, there just weren’t enough
courts to be able to do all the things I
wanted to do. We are turning the corner
but still we have a long way to go.”
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